


colored out the lines

by OpheliaMentality



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, I'm Bad At Tagging, Libraries, M/M, bad at feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpheliaMentality/pseuds/OpheliaMentality
Summary: Eighteen year old Elliot didn't know what has coming for him. If there was ever a poster for the rich and affluent students of the university-it would be his smirking face plastered on it. This man would be on the list Forbes Richest Under 30 as soon as he embarked on his career and after maturing into a ‘suit and tie’ man. His posh lifestyle was everything Elliot would not and could not be.Basically an alternate universe where Elliot is a help desk tech at his university and Tyrell is your bred and sculpted future CEO.





	colored out the lines

**Author's Note:**

> I hate myself, this doc has been sitting on my macbook for about a year.

There was a certain high that came from a complete 48 hours of no sleep. Senses and emotions tranquilized in a way that made it acceptable to ignore nearly everything. A high that wasn’t meant for the average human body to endure frequently but came hand in hand with Elliot’s routine. It wasn’t his fault that he had a high drive for procrastination. There was always someone more interesting to hack than finishing an assigned research project on E Corp’s benefits to society in the 21st Century.

Because seriously, fuck E Corp.

But that was another topic entirely; a topic that made his blood boil and aches to castrate the CEO.

The actual point being given was that Elliot was currently functioning on three cups of highly caffeinated Colombian coffee. Held up in his dorm room, he was reviewing strategies to keep awake while studying for his godforsaken midterms. His first year as a university student involved a diversity among his studies which ranged from his major in computer science to his minor in human ethics. Life was hard, but being kicked out of his merit scholarship was even harder. Especially for the fact, that he had made little to no acquaintances and his part-time job as a help desk personnel for the university wasn’t paying the final bills. Bills that made the whole world go round, and then back again in a continual cycle.

His psychiatrist had told him weeks prior to make an attempt to leave his comfort zone. It wasn’t an easy thing, since he felt uncomfortable in nearly every setting, even default setting-but, Elliot was willing to try. He was going to go to the library to study instead of being jailed in his dorm.

Krista would be so proud next session. He told himself.

Elliot put his laptop in his backpack and headed up the stairs. His room was located on the basement level on the dingiest building in all of the campus. His scholarship deal would have presented a larger bedroom with good views of the campus accessible to him, but that would have met he would be paired up with a future suit and tie in the making. He would rather eat cement than let that become a reality. Besides, he sort of felt more at ease in a place like this.

Also, Leon wasn’t a horrible roommate. He was talkative, introspective on Seinfeld, and was barely home most of the time. He always shared his pot when he was home.

Elliot traveled against the sea of students, hidden safely behind the comfort of his black hoodie and went through the doors of the library almost soundlessly. He made a beeline for the second floor, knowing it would be in a less inhabited area. It seemed midterms had given others similar anxiety as he could see various students crammed on near the fancier tables with the comfortable chairs. Angela waved at him from her seven-person study group, her assertive and charismatic nature was something else.

She was a familiar face in a sea of unfamiliar but becoming more unfamiliar each day. He let that thought sting momentarily for a second.

Finally deciding on a seat near the dystopian section where he couldn’t find a soul in sight. He put his noise-canceling headphones on and began to work on the assignment at hand. With his digits pressed to his keyboard, he began to type up his assignment in relative silence.

Time began to move, the only reason he could tell was that his eyes began to droop as did his limited concentration on the subject. With the way his elbow would shake erratically against the table, he could make an estimate that he was currently on his fourth hour of studying. Elliot reasoned that a fifteen-minute power nap would do no harm. It was a steady 5:16 pm. His eyes began to drop submissively, as did the grip on the computer.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten to take off his headphones and missed the scraping of the chair beside him. He missed the laugh that came from the stranger.

____________________________

Elliot hadn’t had a nightmare in nearly two weeks, which was considered a plus in his opinion. The other part of him had barked back that he had slept infrequently enough to not produce such dreams, to begin with. His chronic dry eyes proved that to be true. Knowing his luck, he knew it would today that his streak would end.

Every fiber of his being told him he was having a nightmare, but that never made the dream feel any less real. He knew the setting quite well by now, He was staring at himself from the height of his bedroom window, and eyed the scene before him bitterly. His young body was covered in broken glass on the dirty grass with his anxious parents around him bickering back and forth. His father had pushed him down nearly minutes before for revealing his secret to his mother. He knew what was next, he would head to the emergency room. He would never talk to his dad the same. His parents would fight over the bills to cover the doctor’s visit. His dad would die in a few months. He would wear black to the funeral.

Elliot knew the only way to get out of the nightmare. He grabbed each side of the broken frame of his bedroom window in frustration and launched himself towards the ground.

...

Elliot felt a steady hand on his back as he awakened with adrenaline still pumping in his system. He blinked roughly as his vision adjusted to the library’s bright and artificial lighting. The setting seemed different from when he had fallen asleep. Everything felt off to him, starting with the presence of the stranger to his right. The proximity of the man’s face near him did little to calm him.

The blue-eyed man mouthed something to him in a muted language. Elliot quirked an eyebrow at the man, still staring with wide eyes at him from being awakened from his nightmare.

‘Damn I still have my headphones on.’ Elliot quickly removed his headphones and shrugged off the man’s hand from his body. In an attempt to give himself more space he stood up from the table and unsteadily stood on his feet.

“Are you alright?” The man repeated as he eyed the anxious man in front of him with worried eyes. He had a strange look plastered on his face which to Elliot resembled a mix of curiosity, pity, and another emotion that he could not calculate.“You’re still shaking.”

Elliot didn’t reply, but he continued to look at the man in front of him. It didn’t take a genius to narrow down who this man was. This was Tyrell Wellick. If there ever was a poster for the rich and affluent students of the university, it would be his smirking face plastered on it. This man would be on the list Forbes Richest Under 30 as soon as he embarked on his career and after maturing into a ‘suit and tie’ man. His posh lifestyle was everything Elliot would not and could not be.

“I’m fine,” Elliot said after a while of both men unashamedly staring down at one another. “What are you doing here? I don’t remember seeing you before I woke up.”

Elliot wasn’t one to beat around the bush. He was blunt and didn’t have many social skills especially with given the eccentric situation he was currently in. With the sudden mischievous smile on Tyrell’s face, he could agree that his new company wasn’t fond of small talk and indirect questions as well.

“You see I’m not a fan of crowded spaces especially while I’m attempting to read my course literature and write down a proposal for my business project. I’m pressed on time. You don’t know how many people attempted to network their own business project and ask for my opinion. You seem like a man of little words which I can appreciate. So don’t let me be a bother, and sit back down. I know that hour and fifteen minutes have pushed you back from your assignment. I would have woken you up sooner, but you seemed peaceful for most of it.” Tyrell finished. As he eyed his assignment neatly placed in front of him and picked up the section he had likely stopped before Elliot had woken. The normalcy of his reasoning seemed lost on Elliot.

Elliot didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that gravity wasn’t his steady companion and decided to sit back down. Tyrell was right when he had said that time lost wouldn’t be gained quite easily. With the amount of the time he had decided to push into his nap, he was aware it was less time that would remain in the end. His assignment was due in two days, until then he could very well ignore Tyrell’s presence.

He got three paragraphs done before his mind ran dry on what to add next. His brown eyes left his screen and traveled to his right to meet Tyrell's steady gaze. The man had the audacity to smirk back and continue to type without staring at the screen.

“I was looking over your assignment. Also please, don’t give me that look. I couldn’t concentrate on the transitional phrase I wanted to use. I found out how utterly refreshing your take on E Corp was. It’s not every day you see an antagonistic approach on E Corp or should I say Evil Corp. I’m impressed.” Tyrell said after a few minutes.

Elliot rubbed his jaw mindlessly, aware of Tyrell’s inquisitive eyes. He didn’t want to get into a discussion with Tyrell on this topic. But a stronger part of him wanted to. “It’s hard to find benefits in a company that owns and has threads embedded in our worldwide economy. It’s bullshit and everyone is so high up their ass to see it.”

Elliot thought he knew the reaction his new company would have: leave his chair immediately or counterattack his views for the sake of his own established opinion. He hadn’t expected for a round of seemingly carefree laughter and a pat on his tense shoulder.

Tyrell smirked at him, his black pen rotated around his fingers. “You truly aren’t something I see every day. You know how many people would sell an arm and a leg to be a part of E Corp’s higher management-my entire department of staff, professors, and even our university president. I could practically quote the E Corp rulebook before I could quote you the Bible.”

Elliot grimaced, “I’m not very surprised. I’ve seen your suite and tie friends around campus. They don’t leave much of their future to the imagination.”

Tyrell’s grin fell slightly, even if his eyes still had amusement running across them. “I don’t have friends here. They are merely acquaintances. A part of the package that comes with the territory I could say.”

Elliot didn’t think he’d have one thing in common with the man before him. Except for that fact that they both had blood running down their veins and went to the same university. He didn’t think both of them would be in the same boat in the social department. It didn’t make any sense.

Elliot stared back confused. Realizing both men hadn’t said anything in the past five minutes, he began to speak. Normally he wasn’t one to break the silence, he liked silence. But he didn’t want to leave anything unsaid. “I have a feeling that you’re lying. I watch people from time to time. People gravitate to you. You know what to say to make people bend. I think..that's a dangerous trait to have. "

For a moment, Tyrell looks shocked. Elliot notes how his wide eyes seem to be a bluer shade than when they are squinted in a calculation of communications with his professors. That blue only lasts for a few seconds before a fire blue emerges in excitement and furor.

"Well, it appears that I think you have a more dangerous trait than my own, my friend. I think you let on quite a different life than you let on."

Elliot freezes in his seat. "I don't think I know what you're saying."

_Lie. Lie. Lie._

Tyrell rolls his eyes but continues on. "You see I'm part of Alpha Pi Kappa. It's just something to pass the time and something my father was a part of when he attended here. Naturally, I'm Vice President. Perhaps you have heard of a small thing that happened a few months ago. All of the resources and funds for the campus fraternities were displaced all over various charities in the regions. At first, I couldn't think of who it could be. But all the pieces are coming together."

Tyrell quickly gathers all his notes in one hand and raises his right hand in front of Elliot who simply stares. "I think we're done with today. I've been meaning to talk to you for months. You caught my eye. Elliot, you're an interesting person. I hope to see more of you in the coming future." His hand falls limp, but his eyes seem brighter than before as he exits towards the stairs.

Elliot squeezes his eyes harshly, before flinging his notes off the table.

Damn it.

**Author's Note:**

> Gosh, this has been sitting on my mac for the longest time...probably, about a year. I feel so ashamed about that.  
> I just finished my first semester of nursing school and I feel like it's time to get it out there before I decided not to. I started watching the series again and decided to post it before I chickened out gain. 
> 
> Both of the boys are around 18 years old, fresh out of high school. I plan to make this lapse between the three years of university.


End file.
